The post-World War II immigration to Australia began in 1947-8 with only a few persons of Dutch birth. However, the numbers increased rapidly, and by the time of the 1954 Census, 42,000 persons born in the Netherlands were enumerated in Australia. This number almost doubled by the 1961 Census and Read more…
Rev. John Vanderbom (1913-1992) was a Dutch-born Australian Reformed pastor. He was born in the Netherlands and migrated to Australia in 1951. His parish originally centred on Sydney but extended from Brisbane to the Victorian border. He later worked in southern Tasmania. After completing his theological studies in the Netherlands, Read more…
Trowel and Sword was a publication of the Reformed Church in Australia, which was founded in 1953. The first editorial of this Christian magazine in Australia written by Rev. John Vanderbom in 1954. The first two editors (Revds. John Vanderbom and Bill Deenick) were in Australia, but Trowel and Sword Read more…
Onze Gids was a Dutch-language Catholic magazine established in Australia in 1950. The magazine was published by the Catholic Printing and Publishing Company in Melbourne, Australia, and was aimed at Dutch immigrants to Australia. The magazine featured articles on Catholicism, current events, and cultural topics, as well as news and Read more…
R.P. Meijer was born on 18 January 1926 in Amsterdam. He studied Dutch at the University of Amsterdam where he graduated in Dutch language and literature in 1950. He obtained his PhD in Dutch literature in 1958. Meijer has taught and researched at various universities in the Netherlands and abroad. Read more…
Cornelis Vleeskens (1948-2012) was a Dutch-Australian poet, translator, and visual artist known for his experimental and wide-ranging works. Vleeskens arrived in Australia as a Dutch immigrant in 1958, and he spent much of his life exploring themes of cultural identity, politics, and social justice through his artistic pursuits. Throughout his Read more…
Lolo Houbein is a Dutch-Australian author and conservationist known for her extensive portfolio of novels, histories, poetry, essays, and short stories. Lolo Houbein was born on January 20, 1935, in The Hague, Netherlands. Her father, Pieter Johannes Houbein, was a printer, and her mother, Maria Elizabeth Verburg, was a nurse. Read more…
Jean Orval was born in Tegelen, Holland in May 1911 and died in Hamilton, Victoria in March 1987. As early as 1926 his emerging talent won him 1st prize in drawing at a Home Industry Expo in Helden-Panningen, Holland. In 1927 a National newspaper honoured him with 1st prize for Read more…
Marinus “Rein” Slagmolen (7 November 1916 – 29 January 1999) was a Dutch-Australian artist and sculptor with a background in chemical research. Slagmolen was born in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands, as the youngest son of Gijsbertus Slagmolen and Mathilda Maria Slagmolen-Jacobs. As a young man, he spent some years Read more…
Hans Arkeveld was born on 27 August 1942 in Scheveningen, Holland. He migrated to Australia with his family in 1952 and lived in migrant camps in Victoria and Western Australia before settling in Collie, WA. Arkeveld left school at the age of 13 and worked as a builder’s apprentice and Read more…